


Queen One Day

by Leaves_Crown



Category: Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VII, Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Genre: Coming of Age, Love, Multi, Politics, Training, Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-08
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2017-12-07 21:25:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/753233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leaves_Crown/pseuds/Leaves_Crown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raised in the woods, Aurora lacks the education necessary for a future queen and is kept away from politics. Intrigues catch up with her nevertheless. While fleeing, she gets pulled in by the lifestream of a different planet. </p><p>A very different planet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tifa

Not blue or pink, but the dark sort of red she had also seen her mother wear at state functions. Aurora had chosen her dress with care, but she was still barred entrance by her own husband. 

He smiled at her in the doorway, but a certain nervousness played in his face. 

“Dearest, please, you have not been educated to deal with this. Perhaps next year.”

Beyond him she saw her own parents, Philip's father, two of her cousins and six of their advisors. 

“But this kingdom, it will be mine one day.”

“I know that, Aurora, but this is too important a meeting for anybody inexperienced to attend. The ambassadors of the emperor will report any weakness in our presentation.” His face told her he was genuinely sorry, but that did not comfort her.

“So I’m a weakness then?”

“Aurora,” her father said gently. “Not today.”

Curtsying for him, she threw a last look at Philip and stepped away from the door. It closed in front of her and she headed back through the long corridor. Her two cousins were only a few years older than her, but ladies of great diplomatic experience. They ran noble estates, not whole kingdoms, but were far more apt than her at politics. She felt humiliated in front of them. 

The sound of many boots hitting the stairwell onwards told her the Imperial delegation was on its way. She glanced back, looking for a place to hide, but knew she would be too late. So she waited at the top of it and made the most elegant curtsy she could think of at its leader, Duke Borivar. 

He gave her that look that many men gave her and that Philip liked to joke about. Yet, somehow she knew that he would not find it funny if he knew this Duke also gazed at her like this. 

“Your Highness.” He took off his black hat and swept her with a bow of his own. 

“Your Grace,” she said softly. 

They all let her pass and she felt their many eyes stare at her. Even more ill at ease than before, she made her way down. Perhaps part of the reason that she was not welcome when foreign dignitaries arrived, was that her husband and parents did not want enemies desiring her. 

She walked into the garden and sat down on the grass near the stream. Birds sang here sometimes, but not today. It was as if the Imperials made them keep their distance. No other animals could be seen of heard. She did not even spot a spider or a fly. Aurora looked up at the sky. More than ever she missed those times when she had freely wandered around the forest, and knew every tree and creature. 

Now that she was officially a princess again, they all deemed it too dangerous, but it left her lonely when everyone was busy with state-affairs. That seemed to happen more often recently. The belligerence of the empire to surrounding countries was a cause of great concern. 

The princess sang a tune that Flora had once taught her. She took off her shoes to let the water play with her feet. It still held some of the cold of winter, but she closed her eyes and imagined herself in the forest, ignoring the sting of the cold. 

Just moments before the black glove reached for her throat, did she hear the approach of the assassin. Her eyes flew open and she jumped back. The man growled something, his face hidden behind a black mask. 

She turned around and began to run, but the heavy dress was an encumbrance. Again he reached for her, but she darted to the side. Desperately, she glanced at the gate back into the castle, but there was nobody there and the man blocked her way to it. 

Taking up her skirts, she ran through the grass, deeper into the garden. In her mind, she wished not for her parents, or Philip or any of the guards, but for her godmothers to save her. 

Inside the little patch of trees, she headed for the rock formation. If she could jump on top of it and then climb a tree, she might leave the man on the ground. To her surprise, there was a hole inside the rocks now. A soft light gleamed from it. Aurora swallowed. Her aunts had told her to stay away from any magic that was not their own, that she was especially vulnerable, since she had received magic as a baby. However, a rustling in the trees told her that the man was right behind her. She jumped onto the rocks, sticking to her original plan, but he swung his sword at her. Losing her balance, she fell down into the grass. 

Once more he stabbed at her, but she rolled away, seeing his eyes. “My Lord Edgar?” The moment she spoke those words, she knew it had been a mistake.

His eyes narrowed. Now that she had recognized him, killing her was even more imperative. She crawled towards the light. It shone brighter and scared her, but she had no choice. The man’s hand grabbed the folds of her dress. She kicked at him and her dress tore at the underside. 

And then she was on the floor of a church. She blinked, thinking she was dreaming. The roof of the church was heavily damaged, but it allowed for sunlight to shine on the flowers below. It was completely empty and silent. 

Something hummed below the surface and Aurora immediately recognized it as something magical, but she feared it not. 

A presence, female, was almost tangible. 

“Hello?” she said softly. “I’m Aurora.”

White little lights, like tiny fairies, circled her and faded. “Aeris?” she asked, the name having just come to her. “Did you save me?”

The door burst open and four men marched in. She backed away, scared of them with their strange hair and angry eyes. 

“They said nobody would be here,” the shortest one of them said. 

“She’s probably just a homeless tramp,” another said. “But we can’t have any witnesses.”

He raised a strange tool, pointing the end of it at her. She held up her hands. “I’m the Princess Aurora. My husband will not tolerate any disrespect of me.”

They burst into laughing. “She sure looks like a princess though, look at that dress.”

“Princesses don’t wear torn dresses,” the shortest one of them said and then made a mocking bow. “Your Majesty.”

“The correct form of address is ‘Your Highness’,” she said, trying to convince them she was really who she said she was, but that only made them laugh more. 

“Raving mad, this one.”

“But look at her, have you ever seen a tramp look like that? They’ll pay gold for her in the brothels.”

 _Brothels?_ Aurora had that worth whispered once before, by her guards. When she had asked Philip what it meant, he had laughed and said she best not know. More than ever she felt her sheltered upbringing hurt her. “If you treat me with respect, my father the king will reward you,” she ventured. 

The short one devoured her with his eyes. “We can have some fun and dump her afterwards. Nobody will question another body in the slums.”

“Sounds good to me.” The one next to him, with a dark moustache styled upwards, ran towards her and grabbed her from behind. Aurora screamed, but could do nothing as he slid his hand under her dress, between her legs. She struggled, understanding now what those men wanted, but she had neither the strength nor the magic to fend even one of them off. 

The others surrounded her, looking even lustier than Duke Borivar had earlier. She yelped when one bit her neck, drawing blood. Another touched her breasts and squezed. The only thing she could think of was to let herself fall, try to roll away and escape, but they held her too tightly for that. 

“Philip!” she screamed.

But the one who burst through the door was not her husband, or even a knight. 

All the men tensed as the woman walked towards him. They dropped Aurora to the floor. She bruised her hands in the fall. “These men are evil,” Aurora said to the woman, not wanting them to hurt her too. “Be careful.”

The woman's eyes fixed on the men, and were utterly devoid of fear. 

“We were just having fun with the little whore,” the taller man said. To Aurora’s surprise his voice quivered. Was this woman a magic user? She was certainly dressed in a strange fashion; black attire, with her hair in an unfamiliar do. 

And then the woman jumped at them. 

She knocked the short one out with a quick punch to the head, kicking another in the shin a split second later. The other two tried to run, but the woman was faster. She took the tool that had been pointed at Aurora earlier, and raised it. An explosion made Aurora hide her face in her dress, but when she looked up again one of them lay on the ground, bleeding from the chest. The woman knocked the other down with two quick punches to the back of his head. 

With all the men knocked out or dead, the woman turned to her. She had not even broken a sweat. 

“You’re the woman from another world?” she asked. 

Aurora stared at her. “Another…what?” 

The woman smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry, a friend sent me. I’ll bring you back to my place, and we’ll keep you safe.”

“Your place… who are you? Why can you fight like a man?”

“I’m Tifa.” She held out her hand. Aurora looked into her eyes and saw pity, but also a gentleness in them that she hoped she could trust. 

“I am the Princess Aurora.”

“Princess? You’re joking, right?”

She shook her head. 

“Well, Princess, we can talk later, first we need to get away from here.”

“Who were they?” Aurora asked, as they made their way out of the church.

“Like you said; evil men.”

Aurora got another shock when she stepped out of the church. None of these… dwellings looked even remotely like any she had seen before. Tifa noticed it and put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re really from a very different world, aren’t you?”

“Maybe I should go back into the church,” Aurora whispered. “Maybe that’s the way back.”

“If there’s a way back, it will not be there anymore. Lifestream doesn’t work that way.” Tifa indicated something that had wheels, but was far narrower than a cart. She swing one leg over it. “Come.”

“What? Where are the horses?”

“Horse?” Tifa asked. “What’s that?”

“There are no horses here? Then what do you ride?”

“Chocobos, a kind of bird.”

Aurora’s eyes became even bigger. “Birds?”

“I’ll show you some day,” Tifa said. “Now you best get on and close your eyes. I won’t drive fast.”

It was still faster than Aurora could remember any horse having ever taken her. Whenever she dared to open her eyes, she saw so many things that were alien to her, that she closed them again quickly. It was night, but bright lights came in all forms. Some of it was even formed in letters.

She could not comprehend it yet and tried to focus on just getting wherever it was they were going, but Tifa’s words echoed through her mind. 

Another world. Another world.


	2. Cid Highwind

Aurora sat in the corner of a small room with a blanket over her head. Nothing blinked there when it shouldn’t have and only a candle kept away total darkness. The little girl Tifa had introduced as Marlene came in and offered her a cup. 

It was nothing she had ever seen before. 

“Tea,” Marlene said. “You don’t know it?”

She shook her head.

“It will make you feel better.”

“Thank you.” She took a sip. “It’s warm.”

Marlene smiled. “Yeah. 

Tifa came in with some bread and cheese. “You know this?”

Aurora nodded. Less elegantly than she had been taught, she stuffed her mouth with it. “I’m sorry,” she said after finishing it all. “That was rude of me.”

“You’re a nice princess,” Marlene said. “In our stories the princesses are often scary.”

For the first time since she got here, Aurora tried a small smile. 

“You’ve been through a lot.” Tifa sat down next to her. “We’ll slowly have you adjust.”

“But I need to go back, Lady Tifa,” Aurora said. “The summit… it will be expected I attend at the banquet. And Lord Edgar….”

“Who’s Lord Edgar?” Marlene asked. 

“He’s a cousin of my father.” Aurora gasped, events now completely sinking in. “He tried to kill me.”

“You don’t have to worry about him,” Tifa said. “He’s not here and if he was, we’d deal with him.”

“You do not understand.” Aurora stood up, the blanket falling down. “He was dressed like an imperial ambassador when he attacked me. He’s trying to start a war.”

“We really can’t do anything about that now,” Tifa said. 

Aurora shook her head. “I need to go back. Please be of assistance to me, Lady Tifa and Lady Marlene.”

“We aren’t ladies.” Tifa gestured for her to sit down again. “Aer...a friend let us know you got pulled here, but we don’t know anything about teleportation.” 

“Say, is there magic in your world?” Marlene suddenly asked. 

“Yes.” Aurora swallowed. “Is that why I’m here?”

“Could be,” Tifa said. 

Marlene walked to the cupboard and selected a few stones. “They’re not the greatest quality, but they will protect you.”

“What are those?” Aurora asked, not taking them from her hand. 

“Didn’t you say you have magic in your land?” Tifa queried. 

“Those are magical?”

Marlene sighed. “That’s also different there.”

“We’ll teach you,” Tifa said resolutely. “Now it’s probably best if you sleep, so we can face the new day tomorrow.”

Aurora stared at the bed. On it were only a small pillow and an old blanket, nothing like what she was used at the castle, but more like what she had had before she knew she was a princess. 

Marlene and Tifa went back to the door, but Aurora’s voice stopped them. “Will I see Philip again?”

They looked at each other. “We’ll help you try.”

*  
It had taken three days before she had first ventured on the street again. Everything, except some of the food, was different from back home. Tifa had helped her put on a pair of pants, but Aurora had felt so uncomfortable in them that Tifa had loaned her a cloak to put over it.

“Nobody wears long dresses anymore, not even at a Shinra party,” she had explained.

By the way she had said ‘Shinra’, Aurora could tell that this was a subject Tifa disliked. 

Everything still frightened her; lights that burned where they shouldn’t, carts that sped by without horses, clothes and hairstyles that signified things she knew nothing about. 

The second time she went outside again, Tifa had taken her a little further, only to be stared at by every urchin and passerby. 

That evening, after Tifa had closed her tavern, she made both of them some soup. “You might have been pulled here for some reason. And even if you were not, those idiots that attacked you did not show up to have a party there. They knew.”

“But they will not harm me while you are here, will they?” Aurora asked. “You are a famous warrior, are you not?”

Tifa smiled. “I guess I am. But people will still try if it’s important enough.”

“I apologize for the danger I have put you in.”

“Danger? This is nothing, Princess. Me and my friends have stopped a meteor from hitting and defeated a demi-god.”

“Are you telling me a joke?”

“Nope.”

“Are those friends all women too?”

Tifa took a bit of soup. “Two of them. One passed away.”

“Aeris?”

“Yes.” Tifa looked down at her bowl. “She was the bravest of us all.”

“I am sorry.”

“She’s still here in a way. And she made sure I was there in time for you.”

“Yes, she did,” Aurora said. “But now you plan to send me away, don’t you?”

“You are not as clueless as you appear.” Tifa poured herself some tea. “Yeah, I think there’s a place where you’ll be more comfortable. No cars and no neonlights there. But I wanted to go there one of these days anyway, so I’ll stay a bit as you adjust.”

“What kind of business do you have there?” 

“Getting a cheap deal for my wine. And I plan to market and sell their cookies here in the city if they give me permission.”

“Maybe I can be of assistance?”

“You might help me persuade then. But you better rest now. We’ll fly tomorrow.”

“Fly?!” Aurora said, but Tifa only smiled and turned off the light. 

*

Before sunrise, Tifa laid a hand on Aurora’s arm and shook her. She washed quickly and Marlene helped braid her hair and pinned it on top. Tifa gave her an brown cap and set of clothes. 

“Old Shinra uniforms. They sell almost for free now,” she said. “If only we could hide those red lips too.”

“Just look down as we go. People often don’t notice beauty when they think it’s poor.”

“I will remember that,” Aurora said earnestly. 

“Goodbye Princess.” Marlene reached up to give her a kiss on the cheek. 

“Is it okay to leave her there by herself?” Aurora asked as they made their way through the still dark streets. 

“She’ll be fine until tonight. Cloud promised he’ll be back home in the evening.”

“One of your warrior friends?”

“Yes,” Tifa said softly. 

“Is he your spouse?”

“No.”

Aurora said nothing, but felt ill at ease. She had always been taught that a woman could only live with a man when they were married. It would be impolite to ask though, and beyond ungrateful to comment, since Tifa had saved her life. 

She followed Tifa to a building a few blocks away from her tavern. Those people who were already about paid little attention to them, though two gave Tifa a quick greeting. 

“That’s an elevator.” Tifa pointed at a strange looking door. “But let’s take the stairs, shall we?”

Aurora panted by the time they reached the eight floor. She was afraid, but also somewhat excited. 

“Did you really say we are going to fly?”

“Yes.” Tifa opened the door to the roof. 

The wind blew harder there. Something big stood there with a large piece of fabric covering it. A man with a burning paper in his mouth stood next to it. 

Aurora ran towards him and pulled the paper from his mouth. “Sir, it’s on fire!”

“What the fuck?” The man looked down on the burning paper. “Tifa, who’s this nutcase?”

“It’s a cigarette, princess,” Tifa said. “Cid was smoking.”

“Smoking? Why would you put a burning piece of parchment in your mouth?”

The man called Cid stared at the both of them. “What’s going on?”

“Princess Aurora meant no harm. She’s from another world, Aeris might have brought her here.”

“Brought….another….” He threw up his hands. “What the hell?”

“I’ll explain once we’ve departed. Where’s the airship?”

“We’re going to use this beauty today.” Cid threw a look at Aurora. “She’s not gonna do something weird again, is she?”

“She won’t.” Tifa threw her a warning look. 

With a dramatic gesture, Cid pulled away the sail. Under it stood something that Aurora could not compare to anything she knew. 

“This is a helicopter,” Tifa explained. “It can fly.”

“With magic?” Aurora asked.

“Nah.” Cid lit another piece of paper. “It will turn turn turn and then vooom.”

Aurora looked at Tifa, but she rolled her eyes and smiled. “Just go inside, it will be clear soon enough.”

“You’ll have to make do with space. Got some presents for the wife in the back.”

Cid opened the door, but Aurora hesitated before she got in. 

Tifa nodded. “You can trust him, he’s one of the best pilots...fly-people in the world.”

Aurora breathed in deeply and exhaled. Cid reached out his hand for her to lean on and she got in. 

Like on the motorcycle, she squeezed her eyes shut as they got up. The noise startled her even more, and she hid her face in Tifa’s shoulder.

Yet, she did open her eyes after a few minutes, too curious not to. 

“Clouds!” She let out and finally looked through the window. “We’re flying! Flying!”

“That’s the happiest passenger I’ve ever had,” Cid said. “And she’s not puking either, like whatsherface.”

“There are a great many people who have carsickness,” Tifa admonished.

“Yeah and they all bother the fuck out of me.”

“Can you stop swearing? She doesn’t know words like that.”

Cid lit another cigarette. “Never hurt no-one. Look at Marlene, her pop’s worse than me.”

“That’s debatable.”

Aurora did not pay attention to their bickering. Underneath her she could see hills, mountains, lakes and forests. And then sea. It was beyond anything she had imagined. Not even her godmothers would have been capable of doing this, and these people did it all with technology. 

“Sir. Do you have a drawing of this.. helicodder?” Aurora asked. 

“Like a blueprint? I guess Shera got it somewhere, she’s designed it.”

“Is she your lady-wife?”

He looked back. “You really think you’re a princess, don’t ya?”

“I think she might really be one,” Tifa said. “I bet those people in Cosmo will love to write down facts about her land.”

“And I think you’d better keep her away from those idiots.”

“I’ll only tell Nanaki about where she really came from.”

“And have ya told her about Nanaki? Might frighten her, don’t ya think?”

Tifa looked at Aurora. “Nanaki is our friend. He’s looks a bit like an enormous, fierce cat, but he can talk.”

“I see.” Aurora turned to look outside again. 

“Didn’t faze her,” Cid said. 

“I like animals, Sir Cid. They were my only friends as I grew up. My godmothers kept me away from people, because Maleficent wanted me death. She was a fairy of great power. So whenever I went out, I danced with the rabbits and birds near our cottage.”

“Uh-huh,” he let out, but he threw a look at Tifa that showed he still thought Aurora mad. 

“I do not lie, Sir,” she said, with an edge in her voice. 

“I’m sure you believe that.” Cid turned to Tifa. “Who was it that attacked you?”

“Former Shinra, I’d say.”

“Rufus?”

She shook her head. “I think they were Hojo’s. I’ve seen one of them in his lab a long time ago in Midgar, before I knew you.”

Aurora saw their grim faces. “Who is this person; Hojo?”

“He’s dead,” Cid says. “The right state for fucking scum like that.”

“And yet they always seem to come back,” Tifa whispered.

The silence was uncomfortable, and Aurora was glad when the other woman broke it a while later. 

“You said you like dancing?”

“I do, yes.”

“Are you any good?”

She nodded. False modesty was almost as bad as being arrogant without cause. 

“Maybe we can work with that, for your training.”

“Training?”

“You’ve gotta learn how to fight,” Cid said. 

“At least a little bit.” Tifa shifted a bit in the narrow space to make herself more comfortable. “Or do you want to be as vulnerable as you were against those jerks in the church?”

Aurora folded her hands together, thinking of them, of Sir Edgar and of Maleficent. 

“No,” she said, surprising the other two. “I do not want to be that helpless any more.”


	3. Cosmo Canyon

Cosmo Canyon was an oasis of peace compared to the city. Unfamiliar tools were still used, and she had even more trouble understanding their accent, yet Aurora felt less like her every sense was invaded with stress constantly. 

Cid stayed until deep in the night, teaching her to hold a spear, as Tifa went off to haggle over wine. 

The weapon laid heavy in her hands and her aim was one of the worst he had ever seen. She did learn quite a few swearwords from him though, and at the end of the second night, they sat near the campfire, feeling at ease with each other. 

Tifa joined them, giving both of them a cup and pouring wine for all of them.

“Nanaki will be here in the morning, you can still say hello to him if you wait a bit.”

Cid finished his first cup. “You can say that for me.”

“Fine.”

“Tifa misses the time we all shared on the road,” Cid said to Aurora. “She was never more in her element.”

“Are you?” she countered. 

He shrugged. “Maybe when I’m building my rocket.”

“What’s that?” Aurora asked.

“Don’t get him started,” Tifa said. “He’ll…”

But all their attention was drawn by the majestic creature that made its way towards them. Aurora gasped. His tail was on fire and his eyes sparkled with intelligence. 

“Miss. Don’t be…” But Nanaki fell silent when she stood up to curtsy. 

“This is the Princess Aurora,” Cid said. “Am glad to see she’s not throwing water over your tail.”

“I am Nanaki of Cosmo, Your Highness.” Nanaki bowed his head. 

She smiled, pleased that he knew the right title of address. 

Cid looked from one to the other. “True meeting of minds here. Well, glad to catch you, Nak. I should be off.”

“Please greet Shera from me,” Tifa said. “I’ll drop by some time.”

“Do. And bring the young lady with her if she’s decided to stay on our crappy planet.”

“Goodbye, Sir Cid.” Aurora curtsied again. “I thank you for your instruction.”

“It’s all good.” He poured himself one last cup and was off. 

Aurora stared into the fire, drinking more wine as well. Tired, she and Tifa both fell asleep leaning against Nanaki for a few hours. Tomorrow her real training would begin. 

*  
Aurora lay on the plains not far from Cosmo Canyon, panting madly. Never in her life had she been this bruised, and her muscles ached. Her hair was messy like it had only been after long days of swimming in the lake near the house of her childhood. 

Tifa looked down on her with a frown. “This might take a while.”

“How about teaching her how to use materia?” Nanaki suggested. 

“She first needs the stamina and not flinch whenever something comes at her.” Tifa sighed. “This is it for today though.”

“If I may… let her watch us as we go at it. No physical attacks, just magic.”

Aurora sat up, intrigued and happy they would leave her out of it. 

They took fifty paces each from each other and it began. Fire, water to cancel it out, ice and fire to render it useless. Tifa whispered something and began to move twice as fast, shooting spells that were blocked by the noble beast. 

Nanaki leaped into the air, raining thunder on her more powerful than what they had used before. It scorched the grass and Aurora held up her hand to protect her face. 

Tifa countered, creating a wind that twisted and pulled Nanaki up higher, until he hit her squarely with a green bubble that made Tifa confulse. 

Nanaki called for something, name lost in the noise and the ground split. Aurora screamed. A dragon had pulled up from the clouds, waving its tail and aiming right at Aurora’s new friend. No longer did she realize that this was all practice and she ran forward, pushing Tifa out of the way of its beam. The brunette recognized what she planned and at the last possible second pulled Aurora with her. 

They fell to the ground, Tifa keeping her from smashing her head on it. Nanaki ran over, but all Aurora could do was look at the sky. 

The dragon had disappeared immediately, and the air had cleared again, showing blue sky. 

“What the hell?” Tifa scrambled up, body tensed. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Was it her?” Aurora asked, still staring up at the sky. 

Nanaki held out a paw to help her get up. “Who?”

“The witch. Maleficent.”

“We do not know such a person. We called upon this dragon to be of assistance to us. Its name is Bahamut.”

“I’m sorry,” Aurora said to Tifa, who still seemed pretty put out with her. “I wanted to save you. It’s just…only those touched by hell can call upon such powers in my country. And one of those almost killed my husband.”

“What is hell?” Nanaki quaried. 

“The opposite of heaven.” Tifa sighed. “You know, the name of my bar?”

“I know that. I wondered what it entailed in your country.”

Tifa stood up and held out her hand. “Do not have any of what she will tell you written down. Knowledge of other realms can be dangerous in the wrong hands.”  
Nanaki bowed his head. “I know that too. Yet I still have questions to ask.”

“Come on, princess,” Tifa held out her hand. “Let’s have dinner and we’ll talk.”

“I’ll cook, my godmothers taught me.”

She knew they were kind of skeptical about a princess cooking, but once she had transformed the cheap ingredients they had gathered into an excellent soup, Aurora knew she was forgiven. 

*

From that day on, Nanaki listened to her talk about her lands every day. Tifa gave them a map and Aurora drew one of her own land. They were surprised she did not know more than a single continent and Aurora realized that was one of the things she would fund research for if she ever got home. 

She banished any desperation she felt on that account. Not all that long ago she had been condemned to sleeping a hundred years and been woken within a hundred days by Philip. There was no way she would be stuck here forever. 

But in the mean time she listened to Nanaki and Tifa and trained her body. She would be exhausted at the end of each day, yet felt her body getting stronger and more agile. 

“Who is king in this country?” Aurora asked Nanaki the evening she and Tifa moved into his grandfather’s old place. 

“We have no king, My Lady. The elders decide most.”

That sounded very primitive, like in a story Aurora had read in one of Fauna’s old books.

“And what about your city?”

Tifa shrugged. “There are some politicians, I guess, but it’s mostly corporations. Like big businesses.”

“Businesses can rule a city?” Aurora put down the knife she used for cutting carrots. “And their lord gave them this privilege?”

“There are no lords or ladies there, haven’t been for a long time.”

Aurora felt a sense of unease. She had never known a world in which kings and queens did not rule for the benefit of all. “Are there any nobles or royalty in this world?”

“I guess Yuffie’s town comes closest. Her father is like a chief there.”

“So this Yuffie is a princess too?”

Tifa laughed and even Nanaki seemed amused. 

“Is she different from me?” Aurora asked.

“You can say that.” Tifa took up the knife and started cutting in her place. “I’ll call her for you if you like. She often irks people, but is quite good at teaching once she sets her mind to it.”

“Call? You mean with that thing. A telephone, right?”

Tifa smiled approvingly. “You’re starting to learn our habits.”

“She’s an expert on materia,” Nanaki added. “Perhaps she can help us finding you a way back.”

Aurora sat back as Tifa prepared a stew, dreaming of meeting this other princess, who would help her get back to Philip’s arms. 

*

Aurora felt a twinge of annoyance as the other princess slapped her own knees and kept laughing. “You think I’m some kind of city lady or what?”

Just before Aurora had made the deepest curtsy she had in a long time and addressed this princess as properly as she could. This was the result. 

“Yes, thank you, Yuffie. That’s enough, don’t you think?” Nanaki said.

Yuffie guffawed a bit more and looked at Aurora like she was the funniest thing she had ever met. “I bit you a good morning, Your Highness.”

“Ignore her,” Tifa said, as Yuffie laughed at her own imitation. “She’s not interested in your alien materia.”

That sobered Yuffie up real quickly. “What did you say?”

Tifa gave her a stern look. “You’ll have to respect the Princess Aurora if you want her to help you.”

Aurora still stared at this supposed princess, who was dressed like a village boy. The weapon she carried, however, was unlike anything a village boy or even a knight would carry. She kept a respectful distance. 

“And what else does she want?” Yuffie said. 

“To return home,” Aurora responded. “Tifa and Nanaki deem it best for me to obtain some skills in fighting before I dare to appear in the open.”

“Uh-huh.” Yuffie sighed. “Can you do anything?”

“I taught her some self-defense,” Tifa said. “And Nanaki has helped her with a shell spell. She’s a bit fearful of magic, though.”

Yuffie’s eyes focused on her, and without lifting a hand or uttering a word, a stream of ice erupted from her and crashed into Aurora. 

She fell back into the grass with a scream. The cold shot like thunder through her body, and she scrambled to get up. Expecting Tifa or Nanaki to come to her aid, Aurora was disappointed when they just looked down on her coolly. 

“Shell,” Nanaki just said. 

This time the ice still hit her. Aurora remained standing though, for she had raised up her defensive spell at the last moment. 

Yuffie assessed her and zinged her with a fire spell. 

That night Aurora lay on a straw mattress with scorched hair and bruised knees. Tifa slept peacefully next to her, while Yuffie combined different kinds of materia and weighed their effects. Around Aurora’s neck was a necklace. Tifa had hung two orbs of materia around it and told her to get used to constant magical presence. 

The feeling of it made her nervous and kept her from sleep more than her wounds did. She tried to think of Philip, of sleeping next to him, and the exciting way in which he embraced her at night, yet the presence of the materia pulled her back to reality each time. 

“A knife.”

Aurora closed her eyes, pretending she was asleep. That did not fool Yuffie.

“Perhaps you should learn to fight with knives first. Throw them and then learn how to stab.”

“I shall follow your advice.” Aurora yawned. “I am sorry for being so useless.”

“It’s fine. It must suck to come here, to this world with all the slums and rotten Shinra scum making money again like they’ve never done any wrong.”

“Shinra is a business, is it not?”

Yuffie’s face turned hard. “That woman sleeping next to you. Nanaki, me. We all hate them.”

“Does Master Highwind hate them as well?” Aurora sat up, feeling a bit chilled in the short night dress Nanaki had dug up somewhere.

“He maybe most of all. Apart from Barret, I guess.”

Aurora nodded, but felt alienated more than ever. In her father’s cities she had seen business, but they did not have any soldiers to fight for them, just money. “Maybe that is how it started.”

“What?” 

“I spoke aloud, I apologize.”

Yuffie shrugged. She was about to say something, but froze. Her head turned to the left, and she screamed. “Tifa! Tifa! It’s him!”

Tifa jumped out of her bed right as their assailant crashed through the window. Aurora screamed as she saw his rotten face and this time she was not alone. The two other women recognized the man who came through and for the first time since Aurora had met them, showed real fear. 

“Hojo.”

The creature turned for them and recognition came into his eyes. “You.”

Yuffie hit his head with a shuriken. He seemed to lose his balance, yet that wasn’t it. He just faded out for a moment, completely avoiding her attack, before blasting her through the window. 

Tifa jumped in front of her. “Aurora, get out of here!” 

Hojo now aimed his violence at her. Instead of running away, Aurora called up her shield spell and wove it around the both of them. Tifa mumbled something and stared at Hojo for two seconds. “Not alive.”

“What?” Aurora held onto her. “He’s a…”

“Later.” Tifa grabbed a little bottle from around her belt, screwed off the top and threw it at him.

Hojo screamed, scratching his already cut throat. 

Tifa took Aurora’s hand and pulled her along, to the ladder. “Run, Aurora!”

“I’ll protect…”

“No. Go now.”

Yuffie rushed back in. Blood covered her shirt, yet she did not feel pain. 

“Undead,” Tifa said.

The younger woman understood immediately. She took out a healing stone and hit him in full force. 

Hojo’s featured screwed, yet the orb he held started glowing brighter and brighter. 

“Aurora!”

She knew that she was out of her league and distracting Tifa instead of helping, so she scrambled down the ladder. At her last look inside, she saw the two comrades gearing up for a fight. 

Aurora ran outside, on her bare feet, calling Nanaki. Several people woke, glaring at her from out of round windows.

“Where is he?”

“Shut up, you drunk idiot.”

She made a hasty bow. “I did not drink, but my friends are getting attacked. They…”

An explosion drowned out everything she had wanted to say. Their tiny little house was destroyed in an instant. 

Tifa and Yuffie retreated, pulling each other out of the way, as burning things crashed down on the ground around Aurora. The inhabitants of Cosmo yelled for water, and some out of fear. 

Both women ran at him, Tifa with her fists and Yuffie with her weapon, yet something… like an invisible shield kept them from touching the monster that followed them. 

Hojo’s black hair was the only normal thing about him. His eyes bulged out so far that they should have fallen and his skin was almost liquid. 

He screamed something in a language Aurora had never heard before and the clouds split open. 

A red monstrous bird clenched its claws. Mouth spitting fire down. Another house was hit. Tifa turned around to do a water spell and save the people inside. It gave Hojo enough of an opening to throw a knife at her. 

Aurora held up the necklace and aimed. She had not even consciously ordered any particular spell, yet the lightning that hit the knife did its work. It crashed into the flying knife, bending its path. It fell down without having hurt anyone. 

Tifa smiled at her, even though she was still in danger. The thought that all these people, not just Hojo, were mad, came to her. But then she realized that this might happen if your life, your world was in constant danger. 

“Give me the alien.” Hojo’s eyes were suddenly on her. “And I won’t care about you two misfits for a moment longer.”

“You know we won’t do that,” Tifa said with pursed lips. 

“How about this?” Yuffie countered. “You give us all your materia, and we’ll let you go.”

Nanaki ran into the middle of the square. Not asking a single question, he growled and jumped. 

Yuffie waved her arms. “Nanaki! He has….”

Hojo’s shield threw him high into the air and the bird shot down another blast of fire, roasting Aurora’s new friend. 

Tifa tried to block the bird’s power with a spell Aurora did not understand, but before it had any effect, black hounds of awesome size appeared from beyond the smoke. Everybody screamed. People tried to scramble away and leave, but the fire and smoke made it hard. Next to Aurora a little boy fell down. She pulled him up and handed him to his father, who pulled him in his arms and ran. 

The smoke made it hard to see. Spells were fired and the bird still hovered, waiting for Hojo to command another strike. 

An eerie silence suddenly reigned all around her. Aurora stretched out her hands to feel her way out of this blur. A wall, invisible, stopped her. 

“Specimen…”

She spun around. Hojo stood right behind her. And she was trapped in his field.

Aurora scratched for an opening in the magic and found none.

“You’re trapped, you fool,” Hojo sneered.


	4. Hojo Seduces

Aurora tried to dive away from his claws, but he caught her hair and pulled her up. It hurt, but she bit her lip to stop herself from screaming. Instinctively, she knew that this creature enjoyed other people's pain.

“Do all the aliens have this color hair?”

Struggling to get lose, she squeezed those hands that held her hair. He only laughed at her attempt. 

“Back in my lab we never leave them with any hair at all. But we can start here I guess.”

Long nails came from his caws and laughing, he began to cut her hair with them. Aurora struggled as the golden hairs dropped down on the grass. 

Shocked, she sat on her knees. “You are evil.”

“Evil. Good. What do those mean? Just nonsense words simple folk use to judge each other.” 

Hojo then focused on his more dangerous adversaries. Bruised and scorched, Tifa, Nanaki and Yuffie had nevertheless gotten back to their feet. Aurora saw vague glimpses of them through the shield spell. Hojo must be able to call it up and off at will, or else he would not have gotten her in it. 

The mad man laughed and screeched more commands to the giant bird. The flames once more rained on Cosmo Canyon. A tiny sparkle hit Aurora’s fingers as she scrambled to get up. It was the knife she had saved Tifa from earlier, still cacking with a residue of electricity. 

She glanced behind her, but Hojo’s attention was fully on the bird. Clearly he thought her no threat. Once more she called up the thunder, infusing the knife with it. She aimed, putting all her strength behind her arm and stabbed the shield. 

Hojo shrieked. It broke his control over the shield and created a backlash that hit him square in the gut. His body parts dangled left and right. The artificial control he had created over his body that was supposed to be dead, seized. 

Hands, much more natural than Hojo’s, pulled Aurora away from him. 

The bird dissolved and the horrible creature that had held her life in his hands disintegrated with inhuman screams. Aurora panted and shivered. Tifa sat down with her on the ground and embraced her, shielding her from the horrible sight. She could still hear him and clung to Tifa all the more. Yuffie made it rain, extinguishing the fires.

“Let’s take her inside,” Yuffie said. 

“Where?” Tifa sighed and looked at Nanaki. “Our place is destroyed and I doubt your people want us here any longer.”

Nanaki nodded. “They are tough and used to some violence, but it might be good to retreat out of sight for the night. I’ll bring you food later.”

“Water?” Aurora asked. 

Tifa nodded at Yuffie, who got it without complaints. 

Aurora sipped from it as she let them guide her to a cave at the edge of the Canyon. They sat down on the grass patch in front of it. 

“You all fought and I was so scared. I am ashamed of myself,” Aurora said. 

“It was you who got him in the end.” Tifa frowned. “You’ve nothing to be ashamed about.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t bad,” Yuffie added. 

Tifa put on a cheerful smile. “See? She never gives compliments like that. So don’t worry.”

“This town got destroyed because of me.”

“Not because of you,” Tifa said sharply. “It’s Hojo and all the rest of them who feed on hurting others. They are to blame”

Aurora felt her hair. It had not been this short since she had been a toddler. What would her people say if she appeared before them like this? She imagined Philip’s shocked face and felt less a princess than ever. 

When Nanaki came back with supplies, Aurora already slept. Someone must have put a blanket over her through, for she woke up covered by it. 

She stretched and yawned, not yet remembering what had happened the way before. A knife was held in front of her face, making her yelp. 

“Get up,” Yuffie commanded. “You need to learn this.”

Hesitantly, Aurora took the weapon. Yuffie slapped her hand and it fell down on the grass. 

“Pathetic.”

Aurora swallowed and picked it up. 

“Get up and follow me.”

A few meters onward was a short dead tree. What drew Aurora's attention was the yellow bird of immense size standing next to it. 

“A monster,” Aurora whispered. “Can you kill it?”

Yuffie laughed. “That’s just a chocobo. Look closer, at the tree.”

A target had been drawn on it, by Yuffie she assumed. The young woman took a blade of her own and threw it right in the middle of the target with ease. She took it out. 

“You will not rest before you have hit the middle.”

“What about the bird, the what did you call it?”

“Chocobo. And they’re harmless.” Yuffie looked at the awkward way Aurora held the knife. “But we’ll better get it out of harm’s way.”

She made as if to run to the bird, and it startled. 

“Shoo!”

Aurora watched as the bird scurried off. “Is that what you use as horses?”

“I have no idea what that means. And I don’t care. Now start your training.”

Aurora threw it, but it fell down way before the tree. The next hit one of its leaveless branches. In the course of an hour, she hit the target only once, but with the back of the knife. 

Yuffie watched, eating fruit and playing with her materia. Sometimes she laughed at particularly weak attempts. 

Tifa joined her later, carrying some bottles and bread. She sat down next to Yuffie with a notebook. 

“They still give you a deal?” Yuffie asked her. 

“Yeah, but yesterday’s little event made my position a lot weaker. They want equity now.”

Aurora had stopped, tired, and tried to figure out what they were talking about. 

“Financial stuff,” Yuffie answered her unasked question. “And nobody said you could stop trying.”

Aurora bit her lip. If she ever wanted to go back, she would need to gain the power to do so. And in this realm power lay with the strong. She bit her lip and aimed. 

Tifa jumped up. “You did it!” 

The knife stuck right in the middle of the target. Aurora stared at it for seconds, before she began to smile. 

“Good,” Yuffie said. “And now do it infusing that knife with lightning!”

Aurora walked over to get a little water. 

“Too much for you?” Yuffie sneered.

She shook her head, and started again. 

It was morning when she finally succeeded. Tifa had slept a bit, yet Yuffie had watched all along. 

“Will you set me another task now?”

Yuffie smiled. “Yeah, sleep.”

For a week she trained with the both of them. Yuffie worked with her on throwing the knives with more power. Tifa helped her gain strength in her arms and fend of attackers. Nanaki took her to the woods for a night, teaching her how to survive. When she returned from this, new clothes were waiting. 

A brown pair of pants and a shirt that went with it. Tifa had even bought her a cap. “Because I know you don’t like your hair like this.”

Aurora touched it once more. It hadn’t really grown since Hojo had cut it, but she minded less now. For it provided any assailants with less places to grab. Happy with it, she embraced Tifa and made another bow for Yuffie. This time she did not laugh, and even seemed a little pleased by it. 

In the cave a few blankets were waiting for her, and she slept immediately after eating a loaf of bread. 

That night she came to her, whispering, asking, telling. 

_Aeris_

“You long to return.”

She nodded in her sleep. 

“Yet you fear it too.”

She hesitated, and then nodded again.

“Danger might come to you there. Danger might come to you here.”

“What about them?”

Aeris smiled. “You worry about my friends?”

Another nod. 

“And what if they’re only in danger because of you?”

Aurora woke with a shock. It was in the middle of the night and the two women slept, with Nanaki watching over all of them.

“I must find a way to go back,” she said as she sat next to him. 

“She was here, right?”

“Aeris? Yes.”

Nanaki nodded. “She wants you to leave?”

“I’m a danger to all of you.”

“Perhaps you are, perhaps not.”

“How do you think I could return to my own realm?”

Nanaki held up a paw, and some of lifestream’s essence circled around him. “With this. Or with materia, if such a kind exists.”

“It might exist,” Yuffie got up from her blankets and held up a stone. “This one could make you teleport short distances.”

“Could?” Nanaki repeated. 

“Yeah. You remember them, right? But I tweaked it and you can go further.”

Nanaki stared at it. “How far?” 

“From here to Rocket Town at least.”

“Is that far?” Aurora asked. 

“It’s a lot further than before.”

They all stared at the white orb for a long time. Aurora touched it tentatively. “Could it go even further?”

Nanaki looked down. “We need Aeris for that.”

“And perhaps something else.” Yuffie frowned when she saw Nanaki look surprised. “She speaks to me too sometimes, you know.”

“We’ll wait until tomorrow night and enter a dreamstate,” Nanaki suggested. “I’ll read up on that in Cosmo today.”

“Don’t forget something to eat!” Yuffie yelled as he started to run off. 

“It’s better if we do it with an empty stomach,” he replied.

“That sucks.” Yuffie let herself fall back into the grass. She held up the materia and caressed it. 

Aurora watched her for a moment. “Would you teach me today?” 

“We both will,” Tifa said. 

Yuffie did not even glance away from her precious. “Ah, you’re awake.”

“Of course, with all the yelling.”

“Thought you’d be used to it, with Barret.”

Aurora took her knife and threw it from one hand to the other and back without thinking about it. “You have both been so kind.”

“Bet you won’t say that at the end of the day,” Tifa said with a smile. “If this is your last one here, I want you to hone your skills. You should be strong if you want to fight that Lord Edgar.”

Taking the stance Tifa had taught here, Aurora managed to block Tifa’s attack for the first time. The older woman spun and hit her at her back, making Aurora fall to her knees. 

“Use your magic.”

The lightning was the only attack Aurora was comfortable with. Tifa laughed, enjoying the challenge. She still deflected it, but it was with less ease than before.

“Good, you…”

Tifa still talked, but Aurora did not hear it. All three of her friends were separated from her by the same kind of force field that had captured her with Hojo. 

She yelled their names, but they did not even look at her, all were mesmerized by what danced in their middle. It was Hojo, looking more human than he had when he had attacked before. 

Lifestream swirled around them and Aurora saw nothing but white. 

~Your city; pure and unaltered, only for Wutai.~

~Your parents; your kind, numbers as they once roamed these plains.~

~Nibelheim; your people, never besmirched by Sephiroth. The puppet no puppet and yours without doubts.~

Aurora understood then that he was seducing them. 

“Stop it! Don’t listen!”

She could only hear Hojo singing to what their souls desired. Her knife hung at her belt and she grabbed it, but hesitated. Before it had destroyed Hojo’s power, but she might hurt them if she used it now. 

Images fleeted to her from the globe. 

-Yuffie standing on top of a mountain statue, glancing proudly over her city.- 

-Many of creatures looking like Nanaki, him in the middle, content and at home.- 

-Tifa sitting on a well, with two older people smiling as she took the hand of a handsome blond man next to her.-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aurora still needs the help of her new friends if she ever wants to go back home.


	5. Unwelcome

They all craved what he offered, Aurora realized. Crave like she had never wanted anything in her life before. Or maybe she did now. She doubted that she would be able to resist if she was there with them, and Hojo offered her a safe return home and eternal happiness with Philip and her parents. 

Yet these brave souls, one by one, began to reject Hojo’s illusions. It hurt them physically. Aurora could tell by their anguished faces, as they struggled to turn their heads and their muscles trembled. Yet they all did it, whispering, speaking, shouting a single word over and over. 

No.

No!

NO!

She saw them lock hands and paws, seeking support with each other. Suddenly Aurora felt lonely. She had never had friends her own age, but what they had was deeper: they had stood by each other in the face of death.

Their strength broke Hojo’s hold on them. The horrible creature did not scream and cry, but evaporated in the air.

Worried, Aurora ran towards them, as they panted on the grass. She touched her stone and let the lightness of healing run from her fingers to them.

Tifa’s eyes opened first. 

“Thank you.”

Aurora smiled down on her, happy to have made a difference.

“Is he gone now?” 

Tifa nodded. “He’s finally gone now, forever.”

“We’ve heard that one before,” Yuffie said.

“The planet feels relieved. She’s telling me.” 

“She?” 

“You know who I mean.”

Yuffie opened her mouth, but then nodded. The lifestream of the planet slowly swirled around Tifa.

Aurora sat down on the grass, relieved. “So, all evil is banished from your world?” 

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Nanai said, standing up. 

“What do you think, Tifa?” Aurora asked. 

“Not all evil, but he was the source of sorrow for many.” She sighed and closed her eyes, listening to her friend. Aeris. The one that had become part of the planet, that spoke for it.

Aurora watched in awe. She had never been this close to what they called nature back home. Sure, she had known all plants and animals that had lived near her cottage, but this…

She stepped closer, eager to be a part of it. 

Tifa’s eyes flashed. “I think you should go now.”

“Go? You mean…”

A little sad, Tifa nodded. “I wish we had stood together longer. Yet in ridding the world of Hojo, you have done more than we can thank you for.”

“Come, friend,” Nanaki said. 

A rush of warmth went through Aurora as Yuffie handed her the teleport materia and Tifa tied it to her necklace. “Nobody has ever called me that.”

Tifa smiled. “Find some people who do, back home.”

Aurora turned to Yuffie and bowed. “Princess.”

Yuffie chuckled and made a mock bow of her own. “Your Highness.”

“And I will miss you, noble Nanaki.”

Nanaki nodded. “If my life shall be as long as that of some of my forebears, there will be ample opportunity to visit us again.

Feeling the strength of the planet pushing her ahead, Aurora once more looked at Tifa. “Please greet your friends from me; Marlene and Master Highwind.”

“I will.” Tifa lightly touched the teleport materia one last time. “Perhaps the stone shall keep its strength and we will see you yet again.”

“I hope so.” 

“And then you…”

But Tifa’s voice faded to the background. Aurora still saw her face fading for a few seconds, before there was darkness. The voice of Aeris guided her as she flew. It was beyond being on Highwind’s ship, far faster. Only the first leg of her journey Aeris guided her on, but then she was on her own. Stars came closer, like she would crash on them, and fade behind her just as quickly. 

Aurora screamed, from fear and delight at feeling the whole universe become one with her for a split moment. 

She crashed down and blacked out. 

“Name yourself!”

Knights in colors, familiar, but not yet, pointed their spears at her. 

Aurora had crashlanded in the middle of her father’s hall. Nobles, guards, and her husband all looked down on her in astonishment. 

“Witch,” was the first word she heard as she regained sense. She pushed herself up, facing all those people that she had once known so well. 

“No, stop!” her mother screamed, as one guard was about to stab her. “It’s my daughter!”

“Mother…” Aurora mumbled. Her head hurt and the sudden attention of more than a hundred people confused her. Had it all been a dream? 

“What happened to you, child?” she asked, coming forward to help her up. “Who did this to you?”

“I was… I was at another world. Tifa… Aeris… they helped me gain magic and…”

“You hear that? Magic!”

The people all stepped back, frightened. 

Mystified, Aurora glanced around. “What is the hurt in magic?”

Lord Edgar came forward. “She’s possessed, I told you!” 

“You!” Aurora uttered, feeling for her knife. 

“Majesties, she’s no longer your daughter. Borivar’s warlocks have replaced her soul with own of their own.”

“It wasn’t Borivar!” Aurora pointed at him. “It was him!”

Edgar ignored her and looked at her parents. “Behold her hair, her atire, her demeanor. This is no longer your daughter. Princess Aurora died all those months ago when Borivar attacked her.”

“All those months,” Aurora repeated, startled. 

“Seize her!” Edgar yelled. 

Aurora saw her parents hesitate. Her time with Tifa and the others had taught her how to recognize danger, and all her senses flared up.

“Traitor,” she whispered, taking her knife. 

“Kill her!” Edgar yelled. 

Aurora narrowed her eyes, aimed, and threw her weapon. Edgar fell back. Not believing what she had done, he stared down at where it stuck into his shoulder. 

Her father's eyes narrowed, as he pulled out the knife. “Seize her!”

Guards grabbed her now. She struggled, but was no match for their strong arms. “Mother, father!”

They both looked on in horror. 

“Let me explain… he tried to kill me… I was pulled… by magic…”

King Stephen looked at her for another moment, but then turned away. “Lock her up.”

“Mother!” Aurora tried.

The last thing she saw of the hall was her mother turning to her father, both frightened and unsure. 

“Lord Edgar is my benefactor,” the young, blond guard who held her shoulder said. He shoved her into a cell so hard that she fell down. “Imposters get imprisoned, but witches burn.”

Aurora looked up at him. “I’m no witch!”

“Tell that to the executioner.” He smirked evilly. “Praise the heavens that the new law has been passed.”

“What new law?”

The door closed with a bang. Aurora slumped to the floor. Only a small window let in a bit of light and hay had been sprinkled haphazardly on the floor. The journey, if that’s what it had been, from Tifa’s planet had exhausted her, but she did not think she could fall to sleep. 

Her parents had looked at her as if she was a monster. She nervously tugged back her hair, and felt that it had grown by an inch since she left the other world. It was not nearly as long as before Hojo had cut it, but it was definitely different from when she had last said goodbye to Tifa and Yuffie.

Seven months had passed in those few weeks that she had been gone. Had it been the journey that had taken that much time, or did time go faster here? And what was this about a new law? Was there war now? Had Edgar’s plans worked?

“Philip…” she whispered and fell asleep after all. 

He came to her when it was long dark. 

Guards flanked him, stared at here wit menace as they let him in. She sat up, still dazed with sleep. 

“Who are you?” he asked coldly. 

“Hold up your lantern,” she said. 

He did, but did not catch her gaze. 

“Look at me and you will know.”

Her husband remained near the door. “I am not that foolish.”

“Tell me what happened, please, if you can not say anything else.”

“I will not be lured into a trap.”

“Philip, it is me. your wife. Aurora.”

“Aurora got destroyed by magic.”

“How then can I still be here?”

Philip’s voice broke. “You are not Aurora.”

“But it is.” She stood up. “I was taken to another realm, so unlike ours. It was by magic, yes. But not evil.”

“Aurora would not have survived that,” he said, regaining his composure.

“Have you so little faith in me?”

“I have faith in Aurora, but surviving alone for a year… and she would not kill.”

“You have killed something that was truly evil,” Aurora said, stepping closer. 

“Lord Edgar is loyal and…”

“Do you really believe that?” she cut in.

Finally he looked at her. “I never trusted him.”

She nodded, hoping he would finally see she was she. “I missed you so, Philip.”

“This kingdom has gone on a witchhunt after Aurora disappeared. And they kill anyone who seems to be touched by madness.”

“I am not mad.”

“They will burn you for those clothes.”

Frightened, she touched her necklace. The stone was still there. 

“Philip, if they plan on burning me, I shall go back to that other realm. I have friends there. They will help us until we can find the means to convince everyone what I say is true.”

He shook his head. “I will get you out of here. I owe it to Aurora to protect any chance that you are her. If you are a abomination who possess her, I will find the way to call her back.”

She clenched her fists. “But I am back. How can you not see that?”

Turning away from her, he took his sword. “As soon as I knock the door, be ready to run.”

“No, Philip. We do not stand a chance against all of them. They will kill you for it.”

He grabbed her arm, and to his surprise, she twisted it as Tifa taught her and made him release her. 

“No.” She held onto the orb, making it glow as she had lightning. “I will not have you die for me.”

“Wait!”

Jumping back further, she made ready to travel far again. He began to fade, as Aeris had when Aurora had left the lifestream of her planet. 

But Philip jumped too, trying to grab her hand. “Aurora!”

Tears sprung to her eyes, as he realized she was his wife, his Aurora. 

“Be safe, Philip.”

She thought his grip would faded, but it became stronger and as the darkness took hold, he was still there. 

A sense of happiness overwhelmed her. Now Philip would see she was not a liar. She longed to sit with Tifa, Yuffie and Nanaki until late in the night again and hear their council.

Philip shouted her name again, but she did not hear it, just felt it. 

At that point things went terribly wrong. She saw him get pulled away, slowly first, like by the stream of a river. Both of them tried to swim back to the other, yet got further removed. A flash, and he got pulled away with the speed of a falling star. 

Aurora screamed his name as the course of the stream pulled her in a sharp curve too. 

Fear, like no fear she had known before, held her. She already understood she was not going back to Tifa, that her fate had been twisted as Philip had tried to travel with her. Both of them could end up on the opposite site of existence, and never see each other, or any kind of life for that matter, again. 

*

“Stay back!”

“As if you would!” A female voice retorted. 

Aurora’s cheek stung and it took a while for things to stop spinning after she opened her eyes. She heard the clash of steel against stone and growling of something inhuman.

“Protect her!” the man yelled.

The first thing Aurora could make out was the woman standing over her. She blinked, thinking she was still seeing things. The woman’s cape, clothes, hair and eyes were all green.

“Stay calm, we’ll keep you safe,” the woman said. 

She lifted her hand. Aurora saw her whip and covered her face to protect herself from it. The woman’s target was not her though. An enormous froglike creature fell to the ground and the woman kicked it away from her, making it roll down the hill. She pulled Aurora up and dragged her along. 

“We should fall back on Eblan.”

The man stared ahead. Only now Aurora saw the monsters crawling up the hill, towards them. Hundreds, maybe even more.

Aurora reached for her knife, but felt only an empty holder and she remembered she had used it to kill Edgar. 

“We’ll ride,” the man said. His gaze fell on her. “The pretty lady can ride with me.”

“I thank you, sir,” Aurora said. 

“He’s a Majesty actually,” the green woman said, amused even though the monsters were still advancing. 

“King Edge of Eblan.” The man made a bow. “And milady is?”

For a brief moment Aurora considered lying. The thing was that these people were the only ones who stood a chance of saving her from the army of monsters. “I am Aurora.”

The king opened his mouth to say more, but the woman pushed him ahead. “No time for that, hotshot.”

To Aurora’s shock the woman called up to the heavens and a dragon appeared. It looked like the one Nanaki had once called up. Power gathered in its mouth as it had then. 

“Hurry, Aurora.” 

They ran, past trees, up and down. Behind her, Aurora heard the dragon’s attack split the rocks. Her puzzlement increased when she saw two yellow birds waiting for them next to a cave. 

“Are those chocobos?” Aurora asked hopefully. She must be back in Tifa’s world after all. Perhaps just on that other continent they had talked about, where Yuffie was from. 

“Of course they are,” the woman said. “Now hop up.”

She hesitated, but the birds seemed more afraid than she was of them. And it could not be worse than a motorcycle. Before Edge could help her up, the woman led her to her own. “You’d better stay away from His Royal Perversion here. My name is Rydia by the way.”

Aurora just nodded, too surprised by their demeanor to remember her manners. 

The bird let out a strange sound as Rydia got up. Aurora tried to do the same, but fell back, holding onto the feathers. 

A grey substance jumped from the trees, ready to swallow her. Edge was faster, cleaving it in two with his sword. 

Even as she struggled to get up, Aurora realized that his sword was different from the ones her knights used at home; curved not entirely straight.

The bird ran, before Edge was on his. Aurora held on tightly to Rydia and tried to tell herself it was just like riding a horse.


	6. Your Majesty

“What about your companion?” Aurora asked as they rode the chocobos further into the valley. 

“Oh, he’s fine, likes to play with them sometimes.” Rydia smiled at her, but Aurora got the sense that she was suspicious. “What were you doing on the mountain, Aurora?”

“I was trying to look for my friends.”

“Where are your friends from?”

“One if from Nibelheim, another from Wutai and the third from Cosmo Canyon.”

“Uh-huh.”

Aurora glanced back and saw the other chocobo, with Edge on it, speeding up towards them. 

“How is our new young friend?” he asked, as he rode next to them. 

“I think she hurt her head. She babbles a bit.”

“I do not!” 

Rydia glanced back at her. Aurora hated to see the pity in her eyes.

“Perhaps she’s of the Von Muir Royal House, she sure has the look.” Edge chuckled and spurred on his bird. 

Aurora bit her lip. Yet again she did not understand the world around her. Tifa and Yuffie had made it clear that the idea of royalty was alien to them, but these two made a point of talking about it all the time. 

She doubted a man who covered his face so was really a king or that the woman’s hair was natural. Perhaps they were part of a theatre group. 

The ride was not unpleasant, and because the bird was fatter than a horse, she found she sat more steadily. Her strange travel had tired her out; so she drifted in and out of sleep, worrying about Philip and herself.

After more than an hour of riding, she opened her eyes again and stared. 

Edge pulled down his cowl, revealing a handsome face with a slight scar on his chin. “That would be my humble abode.”

Before her stood a castle every bit as impressive as her father’s or King Hugo’s. Banners stood on all the towers and the gates opened for them. They stopped their birds at the courtyard. Edge jumped off and let the stablehands take care of his animal. Rydia took more time, sliding off and then patting the animal, telling how much she appreciated it. Aurora decided that she could not be all bad. 

“Take my arm, Lady Aurora,” Edge said. 

She looked at Rydia, who nodded. 

“Are you really a king?” Aurora asked Edge, as he led her up a flight of stairs.

“Yeah, never heard of me?”

“I think she did hurt her head,” Rydia said, following behind them. “She was naming some strange places too.”

“I was not… they…”

“Let’s get to the hospital first, before we excite ourselves again.”

Twenty minutes later, Aurora sat on a comfortable sofa, with Rydia and Edge sitting opposite her on another in a small room. 

A nurse had checked her head and declared that there was no trauma, so now the two looked at her with more curiosity than before. 

“Do any of you know Tifa?” Aurora asked quickly, so they could not start interrogating her.

“We do not.”

“Yuffie? Nanaki?”

They looked at each other. “No.”

“Yet there are chocobos in this world. And you called on Bahamut, right?”

“Yes,” Rydia said, her eyes narrowing. 

Edge did not notice that an idea began to form in Rydia’s mind and said, “Perhaps someone cast a spell on her. Making her believe things that aren’t there.”

“I am not mad,” Aurora said sharply. 

“We did not say you were,” Edge replied. “But you might be influenced, you wouldn’t be the first one.”

“We do not know those places or people you mentioned. Yet that does not mean they do not exist,” Rydia said. 

“Is she from Feymarch or something?”

“Not from there.” Rydia stood up and looked her in the eyes. “Not from there, no. But not from here either.”

Edge frowned. “Huh?” 

Aurora looked back into Rydia’s eyes, hoping she would understand. 

“Those people you mentioned; Tifa, Nanaki and what was it? They are your family?”

Aurora shook her head. “They are from another world that I visited. I thought I was back there.”

“Is that world like ours?” Rydia asked.

“I think so. But in some ways my own world seems more like this one.”

Rydia smiled at her as if she was all the good magic in the world. “Fascinating.” 

Edge sighed. “What are you on about now?” 

“It seems obvious to me. Aurora is a traveler of worlds. You must tell us more.”

“I want to,” Aurora said. “But I need to find my husband. He got lost as we traveled.”

“Traveled between worlds?”

Aurora shrugged. “I think that is what we did.”

“Let’s strike a deal,” Rydia said. “You’ll tell us all you know about worlds and those you can summon there and we will help you find a way to your husband.”

“Thank you.” Aurora shivered. 

Edge closed the shutters of the window and looked at Rydia. “Is this going to be useful?”

“Not every use manifests itself immediately,” Rydia said. 

“But our enemies do.”

Rydia laid her hand on Edge’s shoulder. “I know that. But perhaps Aurora will help us find a way to save Eblan.”

“Those monsters,” Aurora said. “There were so many. Are they invading your realm?”

“They will try,” Edge said. “We slowed them down on the mountain.”

“Our friends helped us set up magic barriers a little bit onwards from the mountain, but it’s retreating slowly this way.”

“So you venture out every day to slow them down further?” Aurora asked. 

Edge nodded. “We need help from Baron… that is another kingdom, if we want to push them back.”

“But they have their own problems,” Rydia added. 

“It has been months since we last heard from their king. His queen rules in his absence.” 

Despite her predicament, Aurora’s ears still perked up. “A queen who rules?” 

“As regent, yeah. That is not normal where you’re from?” Rydia asked. 

“I am the sole heir of my father. Yet it is determined that my husband shall be the one to rule when we come into our kingdoms.”

Rydia stared. “You are a princess?” 

“I had a feeling she was royalty,” Edge said quietly. 

Rydia turned for him. “How?” 

“It takes one to know one.” 

Rolling her eyes, Rydia took Aurora’s hand. “No matter what you are, you’re safe in Eblan for as long as it’s free. Try to get some sleep and we talk tomorrow.”

“If you’ve any bad dreams you can stay with me,” Edge joked, earning himself a smack with the back of Rydia’s whip. 

Her senses and emotions to overloaded, Aurora folded her knees and fell asleep on the sofa. 

The morning sun woke her and Aurora opened the shutters again to glimpse out the window. 

In the courtyard, Edge practiced with his fighters. His movements were quick and powerful, and Aurora understood that he was every bit as capable a fighter as Tifa was. 

He noticed her at the window and waved. “Come down!”

Someone, Rydia probably, had left a green dress for her on the sofa opposite the one Aurora had slept on. Grateful, she took off the brown pants and shirt Tifa had given her. She felt dirty and felt almost like back home when an old servant woman gave her a bucket and a cloth to wash with. Her clothes had torn during her travels, but the boots were still fine, so she put those on as well. 

It felt good wearing a dress again, even though it was shorter than what she wore at home, and allowed for much more movement. People greeted her politely as she walked down the stairs, but there was a nervousness about them, that influenced her mood. 

Outside, she sat down on a crate and watched Edge drill his people. His movements were perfection and the steel so sleek that Aurora doubted that her father’s knights would stand a chance against him. 

Still tying up her hair, Rydia came downstairs and sat next to her. “Bread?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Rydia laughed as she handed her a piece of it. “I am not a princess.”

“Are you not the queen?”

“I want her to be,” Edge said, as he disarmed a rookie with ease. “But she has refused me time and again.”

Taking another bite from the bread, Rydia pulled a face. 

“Maybe it’s for the best, she’d probably stage a coup or something and kick me out.” 

Rydia held out some bread for him as well and he took it from her hand, laughing. But Aurora guessed that all this joking around between them hid deeper issues. 

“Can you fight, princess?” Edge asked.

“I was taught some skills at that other world I visited, but I am no warrior.”

“Perhaps you’ll have to be.” 

“Would you teach me?”

“What can you do?”

“I have learned some ways to defend myself if someone assaults me suddenly. I have some skill with daggers and can do some spells.”

“Spells?” Rydia looked at her as if she had just met her anew. “Which ones?”

“Lightning and healing.”

“Only those two?”

“Strange,” Edge added.

Aurora looked from one to the other. “Why?”

“People here usually are only capable of either white or black magic.”

She nodded as if she was surprised and said nothing about the stone. Rydia and Edge were likeable, but she wasn’t sure if she could trust them. If they would take her necklace, she would definitely never get back home or see Philip again.


	7. Rosa, Queen of Baron

The next day, Rydia and Edge took Aurora to the ever encroaching sea of monsters. Rydia took her on the back of her chocobo . She was less afraid of the ride already and tried to take in her surroundings. Fields, hamlets and a few scared faces passed her by. Rydia’s dress fit her well. Thought shorter than anything she had worn since she had found out she was a princess, it felt more natural wearing this than pants.

She thought of the monsters they were about to face. It frightened her that so many creatures that were bound on nothing but destruction. She had never met Maleficent’s hellspawn. Philip had told her a little about them, and about the despair he had felt when locked inside her castle, thinking no one had known where he was.

“Where do they come from?” she asked Rydia as they halted about a hundred metres away from them.

“Evil was put onto this world and takes this form now. We just need to cut it down.”

Edge was not as sanguine about it. No wonder, since it was his kingdom they had reached, his people’s crops they destroyed and house they wrecked. She could see the despair on his face.

Rydia jumped off the chocobo. “Just follow my lead.”

But no matter how Aurora tried, she could only call up the magic from her materia and only a little bit at that. She had a limit to how much she could cast for a certain time, before she felt empty of magical ability. It took minutes before her fire made a five-eyed creature topple. In the same time span, Rydia had electrocuted dozens, while Edge had cut through about as many.

It helped stop their way forward. They bumped against each other and shrieked.

Seeing an opportunity, Edge lurched forward. Pushing a snake-like creature’s head against that of a rolling piece of slime, he stood back. The two monsters sniped at each other, but their eyes sound focused on the humans again. They were infused with their mission to destroy this kingdom, and that overrode any hostility they might have felt against each other.

“It was worth a try,” Rydia called. She raised her staff, called upon a rain of stones, and smashed three goblins to bits.

Edge bit his lip, frustrated by his inability to find a way to stop them permanently. He raised his sword, when one creature suddenly dashed forward. Its forked tail stung the back of Edge’s neck. Without uttering a sound, he collapsed. A horned, frog-like creature jumped on top of him and started gnawing on his arm.

Eyes wide, Rydia ran forward. A dragon appeared, much paler than Bahamut, and breathed at the monsters. She reached Edge and checked his pulse.

“Poison,” she let out. “Edge! Stay awake!”

He did not move, his breathing shallow. Panicked, Rydia looked around. The monsters made to surround her already.

Aurora tensed, taking aim. Her flames scorched a few bulging eyes, and a path remained open.

Rydia whistled and her chocobo ran near. Intimidated by the monsters, it could not get to where Edge had fallen.

Aurora grabbed him under his left arm. “We need to carry him.”

Nodding, Rydia took his right and they dragged Edge towards the bird. The forked tail lashed out again. Rydia evaded it by ducking at the last moment, but her whip fell to the grass.

The chocobo bend its knees and they managed to load Edge on top of him.

“Watch it!” Rydia called.

The tentacle had already wound itself around Aurora’s ankle. It pulled, making her fall forward. Before she could hit the ground, Rydia had caught her and slashed at it with a knife.

After three cuts, it let go, purplish blood oozing over Aurora’s leg.

“Get on,” Rydia commanded. “Ride him to safety.”

Edge’s chocobo stood in the distance. It had frozen in shock at its owner’s fall.

“You…” Aurora started.

“Now!”

Aurora jumped on, holding Edge with one hand, while she held onto the bird with another.

Rydia whispered to the bird and then yelled a word that Aurora did not know. It sped off.

She could not even look back at the other woman. She was an inexperienced rider and now even had to keep the man steady on the bird’s back.

The ride back to Eblan was a blur. Her muscles had gained in strength since she had first gone to Midgar and met Tifa there. Had it not been for that training, she would not have had the physical strength for this. It was still exhausting though. By the time, she rode through the castle’s gates, her legs had numbed.

From all corners, people ran towards her. They grabbed their king and gently lay him on a blanket.

“He needs a medic,” Aurora whispered and fainted.

*

A whirl of filth, eyes and thick, purple blood swirled around her. It dragged her, threw her up and spit her right into the clutches of a creature that was just claws and fangs. Aurora screamed and jumped from the bed.

“You had a nightmare.”

She sat down on the bed, head in her hands, trying to make sense of it all. The woman sitting on the simple stool next to her was unfamiliar. Blonde, and wearing a white dress, she reminded Aurora of the angels she had once seen depicted in an illuminated book. The woman did not seem surprised by Aurora’s leaping into wakefulness like that. Her beauty was remarkable and she oozed a calmness that diminished Aurora’s anxiety.

It all came back then. She was separated from Philip and on a world that she barely knew or understood. Worse, it was a world under threat. And the only two people she knew here might be dead by now. Aurora shivered and almost dared not ask.

“The King is recovering, but slowly. The poison had almost reached his heart,” the woman said.

“His heart?” she repeated, trying to comprehend.

“Yes. If you had not brought him to us this fast, he would have died.”

“And Rydia?” Aurora whispered.

“Her fate is unknown.”

Aurora remembered how Rydia had kept her from falling and then cut the tentacle from her ankle. She could easily have taken Edge to Eblan on her chocobo, and left Aurora to her fate. Yet, she had chosen to remain with a chocobo that had been paralyzed with fear and quite a distance away, while she rode off to safety.

“I did not trust her, either of them.” Aurora felt a pang of guilt. “She sacrificed herself for me.”

The other woman put her hand on Aurora’s shoulder. “I have fought on her side for long. Rydia would not have perished at the hand of such creatures.”

“Fought?” Aurora glanced at the other woman.

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you a healer?”

“That I am, though that does not mean I can’t be proficient with bow and arrow as well.”

Aurora noticed the gold on her embroidery and lightness of the white dress she wore. She might be ignorant of much on this world, but she could recognize wealth when she encountered it.

“And what else?”

“You are perceptive. I am also the Queen of Baron, and rule there in my husband’s absence.” Her smile deepened. “You can call me Rosa.”

Aurora curtsied. She had no idea of the size or location of Baron, but at least this Queen had a name that sounded less outlandish than Yuffie or Edge.

“I am quite curious about you, I must admit,” Rosa said. “Rydia and Edge have mostly fought these monsters by themselves. They were looking for ways to stop their advancement and did not want to risk anyone else. Yet, they took you with them.”

“I came from elsewhere,” Aurora admitted, figuring that she had little choice but trusting this Queen now that Edge was indisposed and Rydia unaccounted for. “They probably hoped I had some hidden power.”

“You might have,” Rosa said. “We should test that.”

“Yet, it’s imperative that we save Rydia.”

“Some of my people have joined a squadron from Eblan in search. You are too weak to go out.”

“And you?” Aurora questioned.

“I will go once Edge has been healed. If something happens to him, Eblan will be leaderless. That is the worst that can happen now.”

“So, his life is more important than hers?” Aurora asked rather sharply.

“To Eblan, yes.” Rosa sighed. “That is a choice I need to make as Queen.”

Aurora stared at her. This was the type of decision she never had to make yet, but one her parents had taken many times before. If she would ever be Queen, she would have to get familiar to that kind of responsibility.

Rosa stood up from her stool. “I’ll have to check on Edge’s condition. Come along, if you like.”

They went through a long corridor. The only exit seemed to be a door at the very end, but Rosa stopped just sort of it. Using her index and middle finger of her right hand, she pressed against a small stone in the wall. It swung back, revealing a dark passage. Aurora made to grab a torch from the wall, but Rosa simply lit up the way with her magic.

“You are much trusted by Eblan then,” Aurora said. “That you know of this.”

“I am, but almost everyone knows of this passage. This castle holds much more hidden secrets.”

They walked for about a minute, before Rosa pressed her foot at the underside of the wall. A hatch opened above them and a rope ladder dropped down. Without effort, Rosa climbed up. Aurora had much more trouble with it. Her legs were stiff and she had never climbed anything this unstable.

Relieved when she reached the floor above, she almost sunk to her knees. Rosa had been right. The fight, fear and long ride had tired her.

A window let in plenty of light. Edge lay on a bed, his face pale.

She sat down on the floor, as Rosa closed her eyes and began to pray. First, just a general pleasantness surrounded them. Rosa spoke louder and the whole room filled with her power. It manifested itself in white light that brightened by the second.

Aurora glanced at the window, before she shielded her eyes. Even people well away from the castle would be able to see this. Perhaps even the monsters did.

Edge visibly regained strength. His face lost its icy whiteness and his breathing steadied. Even though Rosa’s healing spell had not been aimed at her, Auora’s own muscles ached less, and her ankle no longer stung.

Edge’s eyes flew open. “Where is she?”

“Stay down.” 

“Rydia…if she…”

Rosa had brought him back to sleep again.

“He will be fine. Though swallowing will be difficult for a while.”

“I am so grateful,” Aurora let out. “I could not do anything for him!”

“You got him here. You saved him.”

Remembering the monsters, Aurora stood up. “Have you brought many soldiers?”

“A few hundred. My husband’s absence has made them restless and I thought it was better to have them focus on a battle than stir up trouble inside the palace.”

Aurora could see the strain on her now. “Where is your husband, the king?”

“He is trying to find out what has caused this influx of abominations,” Rosa said.

“You miss him,” Aurora guessed.

“Yes.” Rosa tried to smile. “And he misses me, but we have accepted such absences from each other when we got crowned.”

“He relies on you. Trusts you completely.”

“He’d rather I would not fight, but I will of course. Just like I will rule and defend our kingdom.” Rosa laid her hand on Edge’s forehead, mumbling another spell.

Aurora just watched and thought. She loved Philip and knew he loved her, but he was always her protector. Would he rely on her to rule if he left for urgent business? Philip was modern, compared to many of their world, but now that she had seen this world, and Tifa’s, she felt a sense of dissatisfaction with the limitations on women in her own.

The sound of footsteps made both women look up.

A man in Eblan dress crashed in. He uncovered his face and made a quick bow for Rosa.

“Rydia…she’s….” He put his hands on his knees and just tried to catch his breath.


End file.
